Salernitana vs. Juventus – Round 21 Italian Serie A Match Preview, Hot Stats
Salernitana celebrated their first Serie A victory since the end of October when conquering Lecce last round (2-1), ending their dreadful seven-game winless stretch (D2, L5). It was far from perfect, however, with their last Serie A clean sheet now ten matches ago. When considering the fact they came into this round with a league-high 38 goals conceded, their fight for safety appears far from over. Follow the match live scores on Flashscore.
Repeating the 2-2 stalemate from the reverse fixture would be appreciated as far as survival is concerned, but their mediocre home form (W3, D3, L4) and no win here against sides that started this round above Salernitana, doesn’t give Davide Nicola’s men much hope. A quick start may change that, as they are unbeaten at home this SA season after scoring first (W3, D1).
A shocking 2-0 home defeat to Monza made coach Massimiliano Allegri demand Juventus must ‘be aware of the position in the table at this moment’, hinting that their 15-point penalty could even see them even fight for safety despite starting this round ten points outside the relegation zone. That penalty appears to be taking its toll on the pitch, after Juventus conceded ten goals in their current three-game winless SA run (D1, L2) compared with just seven goals from the 17 games prior.
A narrow 1-0 Coppa Italia victory against Lazio last Thursday was perhaps a timely one, as Juventus are traveling to the Campania region almost one month after their humbling 5-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli. However, with four clean sheets from four away league matches against sides that started this round below them (W3, D1), the visitors have earned their warm favoritism.
Players to watch: Salernitana’s Boulaye Dia scored and assisted in their recent win over Lecce to move to four goal contributions from three SA appearances (G2, A2). Juventus’ match-winner against Lazio, Gleison Bremer, also scored his side’s opening goal in the reverse fixture.
Hot stat: Juventus started the round as one of three clubs to have lost every SA away game this season when conceding the first goal (L3).
